We want to empower our customers to make sustainable, affordable choices in our stores. We plan to continually expand our sustainable product portfolio, using certification, focussing on sustainable sourcing and buying practices, and increasing the recyclability and reusability of our products.
What makes a product sustainable?
Sustainability has many faces, but always the same goal: to sustain a livable planet for future generations. As a global retailer, our aim is to provide our customers with affordable products while safeguarding natural resources, preserving the environment, and promoting societal well-being. Instead, we focus on using our buying power to drive positive change.
Every product has a social and environmental impact throughout its lifecycle. By safeguarding human rights and the environment across our supply chain, we can enhance its sustainability. Extending the life of a product and designing it to be reused or recycled saves valuable resources and leads the way to a more circular economy.
Investing in a sustainable product portfolio
The ALDI SOUTH Group is a limited-line retailer offering a carefully selected range of products – about 90% of our products come from our own labels. This not only allows us to define our specific quality standards, but also gives us more influence over our supply chains in terms of sustainability.
To raise the sustainability standards of ALDI SOUTH Group's own cocoa products, we are focusing on responsible sourcing practices, using certification and building strong partnerships.
Our goal: All relevant cocoa products will contain cocoa certified by a sustainable agriculture standard.
Increasing transparency in our coffee supply chain helps us to identify potential risks and impacts. We engage in many projects on the ground and source independently certified products.
Our goal: The steady increase of coffee products certified by a sustainable agriculture standard.
We work closely with our business partners to achieve long-term sustainable improvements for cotton cultivation. Through certification, we can apply certain social and environmental standards.
Our Goal: All our cotton will be sustainably certified by 2025.
At ALDI SOUTH Group, responsible sourcing plays a pivotal role in enhancing the sustainability of our supply chains.. We use certifications and standards in our purchasing decisions.
Our goal: All our bananas and pineapples sold in European and US stores are certified by a sustainable agriculture standard.
To offer more sustainable fish and seafood products, we are focusing on the transparency of our supply chains and product certification.
Our goal: To eliminate overfishing, bycatch and ecosystem damage in our fish and seafood supply chains by 2030, and to source all fish and seafood responsibly.
Given the variety of products we offer in all ALDI SOUTH Group stores, we have to manage multiple supply chains all over the world. We have identified certain high-priority food and non-food supply chains where environmental and social standards are particularly impacted. Find out more about our actions and goals to improve sustainability.
Independent third-party certifications are a mechanism for strengthening sustainable practices. They help us establish better business practices that benefit workers, communities, and the environment. The ALDI SOUTH Group uses trusted certification schemes such as Fairtrade and Rainforest Alliance. We encourage our suppliers to buy from certified farms and use our purchasing volume to increase certified production.
Additionally, our ALDI Business Partner Sustainability Standards set minimum social and environmental requirements for all enterprises that have a business relationship with the ALDI SOUTH Group.
Independent third-party certifications are a mechanism for strengthening sustainable practices. They help us establish better business practices that benefit workers, communities, and the environment. The ALDI SOUTH Group uses trusted certification schemes such as Fairtrade and Rainforest Alliance. We encourage our suppliers to buy from certified farms and use our purchasing volume to increase certified production.
Additionally, our ALDI Business Partner Sustainability Standards set minimum social and environmental requirements for all enterprises that have a business relationship with the ALDI SOUTH Group.
Clever design and use of resources make a difference
Reduce, reuse, recycle – applying these simple principles to our products can have a significant positive impact on the environment and our business. By increasing the recyclable content and durability of our products, we use fewer natural resources and reduce waste and pollution. Circular design takes this even further, following the vision of zero waste.
The ALDI SOUTH Group has set ambitious targets to increase the sustainability of products and packaging. We plan to use more recycled content in our plastic product packaging, reduce packaging materials and design all our packaging in a circular way.
Less emissions from products
The energy used in production and transport, as well as the agricultural practices employed, significantly influence the sustainability and emissions of a product. The majority of emissions from the ALDI SOUTH Group are associated with the lifecycle of our products, particularly in agriculture, as well as in resource-intensive production, processing, transport, packaging, and refrigeration.
To reduce these emissions, we cooperate closely with our business partners in our global supply chains. In the coming years, we plan to implement a number of projects in our supply chains to reduce our product emissions and increase the number of suppliers that set climate targets. Additionally, the ALDI SOUTH Group encourages its national units to buy certain commodities locally – where it makes sense – to limit transportation and reduce our carbon footprint.
Find out more about our policies, initiatives, and projects for sustainable products. The Climate Factsheet provides information about the ALDI SOUTH Group for benchmarking enquiries.
